'It was completely blank..': RCB bowler Asha Shobana after creating WPL History

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Royal Challengers Bangalore started their WPL 2024 campaign with a thrilling win over UP Warriorz on Saturday.

It was Asha Shobana, who played a crucial part in RCB's winning start to the season. The Indian spinner picked up five wickets in the match, which included a three-wicket over and thus broke the backbone of the UP Warriorz run chase.

Asha Shobana, a veteran of the game, has remained on the wings for a long time. The 32-year-old Kerala-born player has performed in the domestic circuit but is yet to play for India at the international level.

With the stellar fifer, Shobana created history by becoming the first Indian bowler to have a five-wicket haul in WPL history, which also earned her maiden WPL Player of the Match award.

After her Player of the Match performance, the player was visibly emotional in the post-match presentation.

"A lot of struggle and a lot of hard work. I'm not thinking about my 5 wickets, we won our first game at our home ground. Very happy that I contributed to the victory and that too at Chinnaswamy. I knew the situation would be something like this and I visualised," she said at the presentation party.

And her chat continued after the match. Shobana, along with RCB captain Smriti Mandhana, had a candid chat where the RCB Women skipper asked the spinner about her struggles and the inspiring journey.

Shobana, answering that, revealed that the journey was tough and sometimes saddening, but she never gave up on her dreams.

"It was completely blank in front of me. I didn't have anything. There was nothing to be happy about. Just kept on playing domestic cricket and kept on performing. Not getting the recognition that I deserved. So I was really sad but I never gave up on my dreams. I knew one day it will come and if I give up, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the day. I wanted to enjoy that day and I never gave up on my dreams," Asha Shobana told RCB captain Smriti Mandhana after her stellar performance.

Shobana had a total of five wickets in the entirety of last season, but her start to the 2nd season of WPL has already matched the whole tally of the previous one.